Some good hot sauce to use on just about anything, especially pasta, is Huy Fong Sriracha Sauce. It can be found at many Thai restaurants, or if your area has a large Asian community, then you can find it at many of the asian food stores. Also, it is a standard side at every Pho noddle house. Delicious.

Grew up in New Mexico - the official state question is "red or green." Chile comes with/on/in EVERYTHING. In many instances, if you don't want chile, you have to specify. Then you have to reassure them that nothing's wrong, you just don't want any.

This upbringing has lead to some of the most frustrating converstaions of my life. First: chile is not a spice. It is an ingredient, and sometimes, it's the main ingredient. People can't grasp this. Second: "Chili" is what they make in Texas with meat and beans. "Chile" is the vegetable, and the source of all life. Get it right. Third: Chile is singular. You don't make enchiladas with "green chiles." If you say this to a New Mexican, you'll sound like an ass, we'll know you're an outsider, and we'll laugh as you sweat your way through a bowl of Green Chile Stew. I understand that this is a regional thing, and the converse of these statements may be true in other parts of the country. But those people are infidels, and sodomites, and just dead wrong.

Another misconception - not all mexican food is the same. Trust me on this. Texas mexican food is very different from Arizona mexican food. California me...well...I won't even call it mexican. New Mexican food is a thing all it's own, and it's heaven on a plate.

Alright. Now I'm starving, six hundred miles from my favorite place to get a good plate of enchiladas, and I only have an hour for lunch. Damn.

~E.

PS: What's this Arizona thing for calling a Burrito a burro? Yeah, I know what it means in spanish, and that's fine. But it just sounds stupid.

Elastoman wrote:Grew up in New Mexico - the official state question is "red or green." Chile comes with/on/in EVERYTHING. In many instances, if you don't want chile, you have to specify. Then you have to reassure them that nothing's wrong, you just don't want any.

This upbringing has lead to some of the most frustrating converstaions of my life. First: chile is not a spice. It is an ingredient, and sometimes, it's the main ingredient. People can't grasp this. Second: "Chili" is what they make in Texas with meat and beans. "Chile" is the vegetable, and the source of all life. Get it right. Third: Chile is singular. You don't make enchiladas with "green chiles." If you say this to a New Mexican, you'll sound like an ass, we'll know you're an outsider, and we'll laugh as you sweat your way through a bowl of Green Chile Stew. I understand that this is a regional thing, and the converse of these statements may be true in other parts of the country. But those people are infidels, and sodomites, and just dead wrong.

Another misconception - not all mexican food is the same. Trust me on this. Texas mexican food is very different from Arizona mexican food. California me...well...I won't even call it mexican. New Mexican food is a thing all it's own, and it's heaven on a plate.

Alright. Now I'm starving, six hundred miles from my favorite place to get a good plate of enchiladas, and I only have an hour for lunch. Damn.

~E.

PS: What's this Arizona thing for calling a Burrito a burro? Yeah, I know what it means in spanish, and that's fine. But it just sounds stupid.

I think I like you-- but, I am from AZ(so am I infidel or sodomite? )--- we never called them burros-- burros are hooved animals-- we called them 'tortillas with stuff in them' and we got them in our lunch all the time-- at least the torts were usually homemade--- aka a sandwich(and yes at times it was PB&J). Anyway the best food in the world-- and it's not TX-Mex, New-Mex, I could stab people with glee that call Taco Bell mexican- or anything else but good old home cooking is at my mother in laws home in South Tucson. Oh and I had a friend buy me a jar of 'Chili Addict brand Habanero Jam with peach"--- that was slap in the face good. Then I found a web site for it. Seems everything you can purchase from this site is made in New Mexico-- looks very interesting. However, Arizona is still the best!

My mantra
Just save the farkin Gorillas will you! They don't have spell check- but they do need YOU/US...
www.gorillafund.org

I Ned Speil Cheek!!!!!!!!

I'm *not* the lowest rank on this ship. What about the laboratory mice? I tell them something and they jump straight to it. "Yes, Mr. Lister Sir, eek,eek."

I could relate a funny story about how my friend learned to wash his hands thoroughly between cutting jalepenos and using the restroom, and make off color jokes about "Voodoo Jerk Slather," but I think I'll just giggle about it instead.

And RE: Anthrobabe - didn't mean to start a war between states here, and I admit I may have been a little overzealous. Yes, home-made (wherever home is) is the best. Always. And I assure you that where I'm at now (Live in Phoenix, work in Chandler) there are quite a lot of people that use the "burro" nomenclature for "tortilla with stuff in." Sure, there are those who know better. But many don't. And for the Chili Addict stuff - yeah, they're good folks. Also, if you can find Sadie's salsas, they're awesome.

My Dorset Naga plant is just starting to get flower buds on it. I couldn't wait that long, as I promosed to make a blisteringly hot curry for people at work here, so I ordered some fresh ones online http://www.peppersbypost.biz/I'll have to let you know what they're like after the taste test!

I am a bit of a chili pepper enthusiast. I use green Tabasco (made with jalapenos) on lesser foods like poached eggs; I use red Tabasco (habaneros) in more acceptable high-carbohydrate foods like soup or paella; but in anything sacred like spaghetti alla arrabiata, I use chili peppers themselves. A day is not complete without scaling the peaks of the Scoville scale.

I've got some good Sabatier knives to chop them with (you can also hold them between your teeth when you're swinging from ship to ship on a rope. I mean the knives, not the chilis), and you can also use the flat edge to crush garlic with. Get some knife skills - it impresses the wenches. No, really, it does...

There are some things to remember when cooking with chilis: coat your hands with olive oil first to stop the capsiacin soaking into your skin and burning you; wash your hands before you chop onions (the onions make you cry, you wipe your eyes, the chili on your fingers makes you go blind and walk around the kitchen bumping into hot stoves, other people and sharp implements); and wash your hands BEFORE going to the lavatory as well as afterwards. Do not ask me how I found that one out.

"I don't mean to sound bitter, cynical or cruel; but I am, so that's how it comes out." ~ Bill Hicks."To argue with a person who has renounced reason is like administering medicine to the dead." ~ Thomas Paine."One should not believe everything one reads on the internet." ~ Abraham Lincoln."If you're making a political point wearing a balaclava, you're a c***. It was true for the IRA and it's true now." ~ daftbeaker.